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The Parents’ Blessings, the Unspoken Love

What’s in a name? Translated…

Two years ago, a couple of us, fellow classmates from high school got reconnected again on Facebook. We were ecstatic, after all, there are, only limited number of people who can make you feel like you’re eighteen again.

After going our separate ways for so long, we’d all gained different life experiences, as we chatted, we’d found, that we’d nicknamed our children “An-An” and “Kang-Kang”. And, as we’re all laughing about how great minds think alike, I was so moved by this coincidence for a very long time. With the changes in time, unknowingly, we’d marched from the era of this country being built, and, comparing to wanting our children to achieve greatness, we’d wanted them to be happy and safe more. And, we’d no longer named our children, based off of the expectations we want for them or ourselves, but instead, we’d named them, with blessings.

I’d also recalled a male college classmate named, “Shin-Ru”. At first, everybody thought it was funny, because as the professor called role, he’d believed that it was a girl. Later on, there was, another younger classmate of the department, who was also named “Shin-Ru”. And, I’d, accidentally found out, that both their fathers were retired servicemen from the same villages, and, the biggest blessings that the locals can give to each other is, “think and dreams shall come true”.

The two fathers’ encounters of their battling life, everything they’d weathered through, all the trials, became resolved in the way they’d come to name their own young. And, although I’d never met their fathers, but, whenever I’d talked with them, I’d felt, that there was, a gentle father, standing behind each of them.

The blessings the parents have for their young, is always never spoken verbally.

So, this, is the importance of naming ones’ own young in Asian cultures, because we have the tendencies to put our own wishes, desires, onto our own young’s lives, and, by giving them these unique names, that, is a symbol, of how the parents wished their children’s lives are better than their own.